This lead in a series of articles on the open courseware movement focuses on the perils and prospects of a phenomenon that some believe could end college as we know it, but others believe that it will fail for lack of a business model. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) , the leader in open courseware, offers almost 2,000 free courses and has more than 1.3 million monthly visits to its website and a $3.7 million annual budget. But each course costs $10,000 - $15,000 to put together.

With the foundations that have until now bankrolled open courseware projects reducing or eliminating their funding, MIT now envisions fund-raising. Students love the courses but want credit. Critics worry that you can't give away a college education for free without undermining the institutions that charge hundreds of thousands of dollars for a degree.

In another article in the series, Around the World, Varied Approaches to Open Online Learning, Simmi Aujla and Ben Terris look at efforts taken by local governments and public universities in countries like China and India to boost open courseware.

By Marc Parry. Chronicle of Higher Education, v.56, no.8, October 16, 2009, pp. A1, A16, A20
http://chronicle.com/article/Free-Online-Courses-at-a-Very/48777/
http://chronicle.com/article/Countries-Offer-Different/48775/

[Source: US Embassy New Delhi Publication - Global Issues in ARTICLE & WEB ALERT booklet November – December, 2009]